Holder for paper cups



Patented Sept. 16, r1952 Homan Fort PAPER cUPs V Herman Carew, Easton,l Pa., assignor to Dixie Cup Company, Easton, Pa., a corporation of Dela-y Ware Application september zs, 1948, semi No. 51,520

3 Claims.V (Cl. 65-61) l This invention relates to improvements in a holder for paper cups, the invention being highly desirable for use in connection with the dispensing of sodas,.soft drinks, and other beverages or confectionsv in fountains, restaurants, and simii lar establishments, although the invention Will Vhave other uses and purposes as will be apparentV to one skilled in the art.

.The instant application is a continuation-inpart-of mypreviously filed application entitled,

'in'g a cup receiving cavity thereinas welln'as a.,

Holder for Paper Cupsf' filed August 26, 1947.'-

Serial No. 770,674.

In soda fountain and-similar usage today, it I is desired to have a holder for paper cups Which Will automatically lock the cup within the holder and retain that cup against accidental' dislodgement before, during and after use of the. cup, and until the attendant forcibly removes the cup from'the holder todispose of it. Itis also requiredthat in order to lQdge the cup within the holder and have it anchored therein only a relative axial movement between the holder and cup is necessary. There must be no movable parts to be manipulated by hand, no twisting motions i of the holder relatively-to the cup or vice versa, no adjustments to be made, and at the same time the holder itself must be constructed *sov that it can be periodically cleansed to a thorough degree. It is also preferablefl that the cup be:

positively engaged by the holding means in the holder upon -a light axial movement of the holderA those engaging means may become damagedA or dulled so that they do not workas efiectively as desired.- I-Ieretofore, the only thing to Vdo in that regard was to-replace the holder with aA new holder, an expensive procedure.

.It is therefore'- animportant stant nventionto provide a cupH holder that will cup is ready i art f'ofthe inplaced with newy engaging means in a very facile, manner and very economically. i Another object of the invention is the provision of a cup holder with a cup receiving cavity therein, and a groove inside the holder, there being a cup retaining element in said-groove, and. another memberL disposed in the groove below that retaining element. Still another object of this 'inventon resides, in the provision of a holder for paper cups 'havgroove in the body of the holder, one groove-defining wall being of larger diameter than the opposite and corresponding wall, with a cup engagingelement of lless size than the larger groove Wall disposed in the groove, and simple snap means engaged in the groove below that element to retain the element in proper position."

Still a further object of the invention resides in the provision of a cup holder for paper cups, having a cup receiving cavity with an opening in the bottom thereof, the wall of the holder having a groove therein immediately below the opening with the wall on the outer side of that groovev having an opening of greater diameter than the. opening in the Wall on the inner side, and a cup engaging element in the form of a disc-like member carrying resilient teeth projecting inwardly therefrom seated in the groove, with a simple spring ring snapped into the groove below the cup engaging element to hold the latter in position. i While some of the more lsalient features, characteristics and advantagesfof the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will vbecome apparent from thefollowing disclosures, v taken in conjunction with the accompanying 'v drawing, in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a paper vertical sectional view'through the lower portion operate asdescribe'd above, andwhereinthe cup engagingmeansmay be simply removed andreof the holder and cup of Fig. 1; and p v v Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged bottom plan sectional view taken substantially as indicated by In the illustrated'embodiment Vof 'the instant' inventlon there is shown a holder l, which may be roughly said to be generally of hour glass shape. The upper portion of the holder body tapers inwardly to a constricted throat at 2 and then flares outwardly to provide a hollow base 3. The body part of the holder may be made of any suitable material, such as a molded plastic material, or the holder may very suitably and satisfactorily be made of metal.

The upper part of the holder embodies a cup receiving cavity or socket 4, and in the illustrated embodimentthe holder is shown designed to accommodate a rconical'paper cup. As seen best cup receiving cavity through which the apical portionof a paper cup 5 may extend, as indicate at 6.

acid-191 i in Fig. 2 there is an opening in the bottom'of the V With reference more particularly to Figs. 2 I

marginal substantially fiat portion which is of' less 'diameter than the opening through the lower groove defining wall 8 so that the holding or engaging' element lll may readily be seated against the upper groove defining wall 9 through this opening in the wall 8.

The general construction of the cup engaging element 50 is best seen in Fig. 3. Preferably this element' is -made of thin Vspring steel, and is of the general character as the element more specifically described and claimed inmy aforesaid copending application. A series of radial slots H- are provided in the disc-like element lll to define resilient cup engaging teeth [2, which teeth are preferably inclined downwardly as seen best in Fig. 2. In the illustrated instance, the teeth |2 are so shaped as to define a central-opening of generally square shape. As seen in Fig. 2, the

teeth extend inwardly beyond the wall defining the opening at the bottom of the cup'receiving cavity 4, so that it is impossible for a conical cup to be properly seated Within that cavity without the teeth having a positive frictional engagement with the wall of the cup. Theteeth being resilient bend outwardly to some extent When the cup enters the holder or the holder is passed over the bottom of the cup, and their engagement is sufiicient to distort the wall of thev cup into substantially a square configuration as indicated at [3 in Fig. 3. The downward slope or bend of the teeth effects a biting engagement that becomes more positive upon a pull tending to lift the cup' out of the holder. The engagement is obviously'sufficiently firm to prevent any accidental dislodgement of the cup, by way of a draft of air, by way of the rim of the cup sticking to a customer's lip, or in some similar fashion. A definite pull is required to remove the cup from the holder against the action of the teeth, but an attendant may remove the cup by a simple relatively quick jerk when theV cup is to be disposed of or discarded, because it makes no difierence if any injury then results to the cup.

In'order to retain the cup engaging element I B properly seated in the groove of the holder, I have provided a springv ring M'having spaced apart and lenlarged jend:,portions 'IS and 16.

4 A This ring is preferably flat, having a substantially rectangular cross section as seen in Fig. 2. Thus, it can more readily seat within the groove 1. Each of the expanded end portions [5 and l6 is provided with a transverse aperture l'l therethrough, and it is a simple expedient to engage parts of a tool through such aperture and contract the ring to remove it from the holder, the ring normally having a tendency to expand to a diameter greater than the opening through the wall 8 and seat positively against the outermost wall. ofthe groove. 1.

Consequently, should the wcup engaging member IB become damaged in any way and should ity be desired to replace that member with a new one, it is a simple expedient to contract and remove the ring, permit the cup engaging element to drop out. The new one may be placed in, and it is as equally simple and expedient to snap the ring back in the groove. Thus, the life of the holder is greatly prolonged because the only part lwith any reasonable likelihood of ever becoming out of order may be readily replaced and very economically. It will be noted from the showing in Fig. 3 that the retaining ring |4 preferably engages the cup holding member l0 outwardly beyond the termination of the slots I I, so that the retaining ring does not interfere in'any manner with the resiliency or the spring action of the cup engaging fingers |2.

It will, of course, be understood that various I details of construction maybe varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the apgroove definingwall on one side' vextending to i said opening and? the corresponding Wall lon the other 'side having a larger opening therein,- a disc-like cup holding member having a flat nlarf gina-1 portion seated in the. groove and inwardly i' direct'ed resilientcup engaging teeth, said member being of lless diameter than the larger opening, and av flat Split-ring having spaced enlarged ends engaged in said groove to retain said holding member in position, the enlarg'ed ends of said I socket therein Iv'vth an opening in the'bottoml through which the apical portion of'a cup eX- tends -when the cup is seated in the holder, av

laterally extending annular' face in said holder adjacent said opening, a thin metallic disc-like' member having an open central portion with a'" plurality of inwardly extending and downwardly V sloping resilient teeth to yield With an entering Vcup and bitingly engage the wall of the cup to resist a tendency of the cup to leave the holder, said member being disposed against said face] and a centrally open smooth surfaced element frictionally seated ingsaid holder to hold said member in position.

3. A holder for a'conical paper cup, including a tubular bodyV part having a' 'cup receiving socket therein with an opening infthe bottom? through whichl the apical portion of a cup ex-I tends'when the cup is seated -in the holder, -a I' gagement with the apical Wall portion of a cup,

and a centrally open metallic element mounted in said holder below said member to hold the same in place.

HERMAN CAREW.

REFERENCES CITED i The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 340,430 Donnelly Apr. 20, 1886 395,409 Waters Jan. l, 1889 1,139,580 Rike et al May 18, 1915 Number Number 6 Name Date White June27, 1916 Curtin May 6, 1919 Curtin Apr. 8, 1924 Wen sept. 21, 1926 Leaf Jan. 11, 1927 Leindorf Nov. 23, 1937 Richardson, Jr. IvIay 24, 1938 Rubinoi June 8, 1943 Rosay July 6, 1943 Clifford, Jr. Sept. 14, 1943 Amberg Sept. 27, 1949 Amberg Sept. 27, 1949 Johnson et al. Nov. 8, 1949 Carew May .23, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Apr. 29, 1903 Great Britain May 9, 1896 Switzerland Jan. 31, 1912 

